London Wasps will condemn their Premiership rivals Gloucester to their worst run of home league defeats for 17 years if they win at Kingsholm on Saturday. But David Young, the Wasps director of rugby, is under no illusion about what his team must seek to do in the quest for an away success.

Gloucester's last Premiership home victory came against Harlequins seven months ago, since when they have been toppled at Kingsholm by Exeter, Newcastle, Sale and Northampton.

Young said: "Gloucester are a strong physical side and we need to match them up front because they have an incredibly quick creative back line that will thrive off front-foot ball. We know we are not the finished article, that there are very good teams out there and that every game is going to be difficult.

"We've had a few encouraging performances, but only one victory so far, and there is a long season ahead in which we are going to have to keep improving. There is no area at this moment in time that we are totally satisfied with. Every area I think we can improve on, and I think the players will feel the same as well."

Like Wasps, Gloucester can reflect on just a solitary victory from three starts, but their head coach, Nigel Davies, said: "I believe we've got a clear understanding of where our game needs to be. We know the size of the challenge, and there are never any easy games in the Premiership, that's for sure. Wasps play a particular way, and it is really challenging every week to come in and look at the respective styles of play of the teams that we are coming up against."

Worcester's head coach, Richard Hill, has no doubt what to expect when the Warriors tackle unbeaten Northampton at Franklin's Gardens. As well as defeating Gloucester in the opening game of the campaign, Saints have rumbled past Exeter and Bath and Hill knows the Warriors must be braced for an intense physical battle.

"Along with Leicester, Northampton have the strongest pack in the league," he said. "Their forwards are used as a real weapon, and they will scrummage at every opportunity they get. They will scrummage from lineouts and keep the ball at the back until they work a scoring opportunity or earn a penalty.

"Because their lineout overall is so strong, they have lots of different movements off that. Much of our work this week has focused around how we combat that and how we defend against the lineout drive."